Camden Council commits to continue funding additional PCSO’s
3rd July 2010
Camden Council has committed to continue funding 18 additional Police Community Support Officers (PCSO's) for Camden Town. The commitment has been made for 1 year (with a view for it to continue).
Over the first two years of the initiative, the PCSO's contributed to a 17 per cent reduction in crime in Camden Town. As a visible uniformed presence in the area, the PCSO’s help to tackle crime and antisocial behavior and make people feel safer in their community.
Since our inception, reducing crime and anti social behaviour has been our core objective. As one of our pre-election promises, we deployed weekday evening security patrols and directly paid for over 1000 hours of additional patrolling over the winter months to make people feel safer. This pump priming initiative raised awareness of the need for a larger uniformed presence in Camden Town, and the Met and LBC have joint funded additional officers since.
We are extremely pleased that the funding is going to remain, however, we will continue in lobbying to ensure that our dedicated policing team remains in place until our long term improvement strategies, such as a better quality public realm and diverse business mix means Camden Town can sustain a crime free environment without these resources.
"We all know that if we take our foot from the throat of the dealers they’ll be back within minutes. What this decision shows is that the new administration understands this. Business needs a safe Camden just as much as residents do and we all share the desire to make Camden Town an area the borough can be proud of and one that can foster the business growth we need to pull us out of recession. The business community, the police and the Council have worked extremely well together to tackle many problems in the area and the renewal of the funding for PCSOs is another example of this excellent partnership working.”
Simon Pitkeathley
Chief Executive, Camden Town Unlimited
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